Missing Pieces
by Mulderette
Summary: My version of Ty's interactions with Carlos and Alex when he comes home from the hospital after being shot in "Superheroes." Fill in scene between the episodes "Thicker Than Water" and "Falling."


Title: Missing Pieces  
  
Author: Lynne Facella  
  
Email: lynne1919@aol.com  
  
Disclaimer: All characters are the property of John Wells and Edward Allen Bernero. I wish they were mine but unfortunately they're not.  
  
Summary: My version of Ty's interactions with Carlos and Alex when he comes home from the hospital after being shot in "Superheroes." Fill in scene between the episodes "Thicker Than Water" and "Falling."  
  
******  
  
Ty slowly made his way down the hallway, leaning heavily on his cane as he approached his apartment. The pain in his thigh was steadily increasing with every step he took and finally he stopped, needing to rest.   
  
"Ty, are you alright?" His mother gently put her hand on his upper arm and gave him a concerned look.  
  
"I'm fine, mom. Just need to take a little break." He gave her a reassuring smile as he began to walk again.  
  
Maggie sighed softly. "I still don't understand why you just didn't come home by ambulance, Ty. I'm sure your friends would have been happy to do it and you wouldn't have to be struggling like this."  
  
"I'm not struggling, mom," he replied, trying to hide his irritation. "I just got out of the hospital. It's not like I'm ready for marathons."  
  
"Even so..."  
  
"It's fine." By now, they had arrived at the apartment and Ty stuck his hand in the pocket of his jacket and pulled out his keys.  
  
"Shh..." Maggie cocked her head towards the door, listening intently. "That sounds like a baby in there."  
  
"A baby? Nah, that can't be," Ty said, shaking his head. He put his key in the lock and opened the door, at which point the baby's crying became much louder. "Guess it is a baby..." Ty said softly. They stepped inside to see Carlos pacing around, trying to comfort a baby he was holding in his arms. "Carlos? Uh...what's going on?"  
  
Carlos was so focused on trying to comfort Kylie that he hadn't even heard Ty and his mother enter the apartment until Ty spoke. "Oh, hey, Ty...um welcome home."  
  
"Thanks..." Ty gave his roommate an openly curious look as he lowered himself onto the couch, then breathed a sigh of relief to finally have the weight off his leg. He gingerly raised his leg and rested it on the coffee table.   
  
"Who is this precious little girl?" Maggie cooed as she held her arms out towards the baby. "Can I hold her?"  
  
"Yeah...uh sure, Mrs. Davis." Carlos gently handed the baby over to Ty's mom. "This is Kylie...she's...my daughter."  
  
A brief look of surprise flashed over Maggie's face as she took the baby, but she quickly recovered. "She's absolutely beautiful, Carlos. She has your eyes."  
  
"Yeah?" Carlos smiled at the compliment. "You really think so?"  
  
"Oh most definitely." She cuddled Kylie in her arms, rocking her gently until she settled down and stopped crying. "I think this little girl is about ready for her nap. I can put her down for you. Where does she sleep?"  
  
"You sure?" Carlos asked, a grateful smile on his face. "Her crib is right in my bedroom." He watched as Maggie left the room with Kylie then turned toward Ty who was just sitting and watching him. "What?"  
  
"I didn't say a word."  
  
"No, but you want to. I can tell," Carlos said as he sat down on the couch next to his roommate.   
  
"Well...it's just you never mentioned anything about having a kid before..."  
  
"It's because I didn't know I had a kid...not until a few days ago."  
  
"You didn't know? Wow..." Ty took a few moments to digest that and then looked back at Carlos. "So...who's her mom?"  
  
"Remember that girl, Vangie I dated a couple of years back?"  
  
Ty scrunched up his face trying to remember, but then shook his head. "Um...no not really."  
  
Carlos ran his hand back through his hair. "Well...it doesn't really matter. We were together for a short time. She told me she was pregnant, but...well let's just say I didn't deal with it very well. I thought she had gotten an abortion, but it turns out she didn't and now... Vangie died, Ty...I'm Kylie's father...I'm all she has..."  
  
"God, Carlos..." Ty couldn't even imagine all of a sudden finding out he had a kid who he had no idea had existed. "What are you going to do?"  
  
"Honestly?" Carlos asked, looking at his roommate. "I have no idea."  
  
******  
  
"Bye, mom...thanks..." Ty leaned his head wearily back against the top of the couch as his mom left the apartment, closing the door behind her. It had been a really long, tiring afternoon. His mom had been constantly fussing over him to the point that he was ready to scream. He knew she was only trying to be helpful, but in all honesty he was glad she had finally gone home.   
  
"Hey Ty, you want a beer?" Carlos shouted from the kitchen.   
  
"Meds, Carlos. I can't drink beer," Ty called back. He was almost tempted to drink one anyhow, but decided he'd better not. "A Coke would be good if you don't mind."   
  
Carlos came into the living room a few minutes later and handed an ice-filled glass of Coke to Ty. "Sorry about the beer thing, I just wasn't thinking. I haven't been sleeping a whole lot these past few days."  
  
"Thanks, no big deal," Ty said as he took a small sip of the Coke. "Kylie keeps you up at night?"  
  
Carlos shrugged. "It's not like she's bad or cries all night or anything... It's just me. I'm afraid she'll need something or she'll stop breathing and I just don't fall into a sound sleep. It's just really different."  
  
"Well, she sure is cute," Ty stated, a smile on his face.  
  
"Yeah...yeah, she's really cute," Carlos agreed as he took a long sip of beer and then was silent for a few long moments, seemingly lost in his thoughts. Finally he glanced over at his friend. "So how is it being out of the hospital? Good to be home?"  
  
"It's definitely good to be home. Being in the hospital isn't my idea of a good time."  
  
"I hear that," said Carlos, taking another swig of beer. "Though some of the nurses are pretty hot."  
  
"I guess." Ty grinned. "But none of mine seemed to fall into that category. Not to mention, some of them were pretty bitchy."  
  
"You've got to use your charm on them," Carlos stated with a self-assured smile. "But then again, you must have had Alex at your side every moment she wasn't on duty, so that might have discouraged the nurses from trying to get too close."  
  
Ty suddenly found himself staring down at his glass of Coke like it was the most interesting thing in the world. He turned the glass slowly in his hands, causing the ice cubes to clink against the sides of the glass. "I don't exactly think that was an issue..."  
  
"You mean Alex wasn't at your side every minute?" Carlos asked. "Cause she was sure worried about you. Man...you should have seen her face when I told her you were shot."  
  
Ty gnawed on his lower lip as his thoughts returned to one and only time he had seen Alex during his hospitalization. He had woken up and there she had been, right by his side, holding his hand. Everything had seemed fine...until his mom had walked into the room and Ty had dropped Alex's hand like it was a hot potato. He knew it had upset Alex. How could it not have? She had left him then and she hadn't been back. Not that he blamed her. He didn't. How could he? If she had come back, he wasn't even sure what he would have said to her. Even now, he was just so mixed up about everything.   
  
"I'm not really sure what's going on between Alex and I right now," Ty admitted after a long silence. "But I sort of think it may be over between us..."  
  
"No kidding?" Carlos gave Ty a surprised look. "I mean, it's not like I ever saw you two as anything long-term, but... Hey she broke up with you while you were in the hospital? Man, that's cold," he said, giving a mock shiver.   
  
Ty shot Carlos an annoyed look. "She didn't break up with me...it...it's just complicated. I'd rather not talk about it right now if you don't mind."  
  
"Hey no problem." Carlos picked up the remote control and turned on the television set. "Let's see if there's anything on worth watching."  
  
"Sounds good," Ty stated, his thoughts still on Alex as he watched Carlos flick through the channels.   
  
"Let's try to find something funny. I definitely don't want to watch any dark, depressing stuff." Carlos finally settled on a rerun of "Seinfeld." "Hey this is a good one, the one where George does everything opposite of how he usually does things and everything turns out fantastic." Carlos chuckled as he watched the screen.   
  
Ty tried to focus on the show, but his thoughts kept wandering. His pain meds were also starting to wear off and he could feel his mood starting to sink. He kept thinking about Alex, and Sully as well... He'd been really pissed at Sully after he'd been shot. His partner had gone off half-cocked and had refused to just take a few minutes to think things through and come up with a coherent plan. The couple of times Sully had visited him in the hospital, Ty had refused to give an inch. Both visits had been extremely awkward and Sully hadn't returned after the second visit. Of course Ty knew that Sully was back on duty now and busy with work, but he also knew in his heart that if things had gone better between them, that Sully would be a frequent visitor...as would Alex. Man...he wasn't exactly batting a thousand in his dealings with people these days. He could feel himself fading and knew he needed to get some rest. "I think I'm going to get some sleep," Ty stated as he awkwardly managed to get himself up off the couch.  
  
"You need any help?" Carlos quickly got up and stood ready and willing to help his friend.   
  
"No. Thanks, Carlos. I'm good. I'll see you in the morning." Ty slowly began to maneuver his way through the living room towards his bedroom. After he had taken a few steps he turned to face Carlos, a serious look on his face. "Hey Carlos? Do me a favor? Don't mention any of this to Alex, okay? I...we...really need to talk."  
  
Carlos nodded. "Don't worry, Ty. I won't say anything."  
  
******  
  
Alex stood outside the door of Ty and Carlos' apartment. Her hand was poised to knock, but once again she dropped it to her side. She didn't know exactly how long she had been standing there...at least ten minutes or so. She wasn't even sure why she was there or what she was going to say, but she knew she couldn't keep avoiding him forever, though a part of her wanted to try. The relationship she had developed with Ty had taken her by surprise, but it had been a nice surprise. He'd been there for her when she needed someone and she had gotten used to him being around...not to mention the sex had been incredible. She hadn't even really thought about the future. She'd been happy to live in the moment and just see what happened, but she hadn't expected him to react as he had when his mom came into his hospital room.  
  
The way he had dropped her hand...the look he had given his mom, like a kid with his hand caught in the cookie jar... At that moment she had known that what they had wasn't going to last. She couldn't deny that it hurt, but they hadn't been together long enough for her heart to be broken. It had been nice being with him though...being part of a couple, talking to him late into the night, waking up in his arms... She would miss that. She would miss that a lot.  
  
Taking a deep breath, Alex finally forced herself to knock on the door. She nervously stood waiting for a seemingly endless time before she heard the sound of the doorknob being turned on the other side of the door. The door opened and there was Ty. She swallowed hard as their eyes met. This was going to be harder than she'd thought. "Hey..." she said quietly, breaking the awkward silence between them. "How are you feeling?"  
  
He wasn't really surprised to see her there when he opened the door, but he still found himself tongue-tied as he stood there just staring back at her. "I...I'm doing better," he replied when she finally spoke. "Um... Would you like to come in?"  
  
Alex nodded and made her way inside as Ty closed the door and slowly followed behind her.   
  
"Why don't you sit down?" He was incredibly uneasy. Things had definitely changed between them. They had been so comfortable with each other, but that was no longer the case.   
  
Alex sat down on the couch and watched as Ty cautiously sat down beside her. "Are you in a lot of pain?" she asked.  
  
"It's not so bad. You know, pain meds..."  
  
"That's good."   
  
Another long silence followed. Ty found himself staring down at the floor, searching for something to say. Damn. This just sucked. The longer the silence stretched out though, the worse this was going to be. He knew he had to say something...anything at all... "Alex? I...I'm sorry about what happened in the hospital. I just..." He trailed off, not really sure what he wanted to say.   
  
She gazed back at him. She could see he was as uncomfortable as she was and she hated that things had gotten to this point. This wasn't what she wanted. This wasn't why she had come here. "You don't need to apologize...I just...I thought we needed to talk. We...I need to know where things stand."  
  
"I know you do...so do I..." He found himself staring into her eyes. He could just lose himself in those eyes of hers. It would be so easy to take her into his arms right now, to hold her...to kiss her...but it wouldn't be fair...It wouldn't be fair at all. "I really care about you, Alex..."  
  
"But?" She knew there was a but...there always was a but.  
  
"But...I don't know, Alex...I mean, what we've had has been really great, but...I don't know. I mean, what do you think?"   
  
She looked at him, torn. Part of her wanted to make this hard on him, but the other part of her couldn't stand to see him struggling the way he was. He'd been shot. He could have been killed and she really cared about him. "I don't know, Ty..." She wasn't going to be the one. He was going to have to do it.  
  
"I...I'm sorry, Alex. I guess...I'm just not ready for anything more right now. I think...I think we should just be friends." He hated the way it sounded. Friends. Friendship was one of the most important things in the world, but when you were breaking up with someone, it suddenly took on a whole new meaning. He couldn't even bring himself to look at her. He didn't want to see the sadness in her eyes or even worse...tears.   
  
Actually hearing him say the words hurt more than she had thought it would. She closed her eyes for a long moment and took a deep breath, trying to compose herself.   
  
She wouldn't cry.   
  
She couldn't cry. Not in front of him.  
  
"O...okay," she whispered.  
  
He looked at her then. Her head was bowed and he felt like a heel. He knew, in his heart, it was better this way though. Dragging this out would only postpone the pain and make things worse in the long run. He cared about her...he cared about her very much, but he wasn't in love with her.   
  
"I'm really sorry..."  
  
"Don't." She managed a smile as she raised her head to face him. "It's alright, Ty...really it is. I...I'm alright. I guess a part of me always knew this was going to happen. It's just...I suppose I hoped it would last a little longer."  
  
He nodded. He didn't really know what to say. Carlos had taken Kylie out to get some air. He suddenly wished they'd return.   
  
"I should go." Alex stood up quickly. She felt suddenly stifled. She knew she couldn't stay there any longer. She needed to get away, to be by herself to think. Her eyes went to Ty who was getting to his feet. "You don't have to get up."  
  
"I...I want to..." He smiled, a forced smile, which didn't reach his eyes. They silently made their way to the door.  
  
"You take care of yourself..." Alex said, finally turning and looking up at him. "Don't overdo it and if you need anything..."  
  
"Thanks..."   
  
She put her hand on the doorknob and turned it, then stepped out into the hall and looked up at him one more time. "I'll talk to you soon."  
  
"Okay...take care, Alex..."  
  
She turned and started down the hall. She could feel his eyes on her as she walked. She bypassed the elevator and made her way to the stairwell where she finally allowed the tears she had been holding back to fall. She was going to be okay. She knew she would be, but for now she just needed to cry.   
  
He stood and watched her until she disappeared into the stairwell, then sighed and headed back inside. He really hoped they could remain friends. It wasn't something he had just said. It was something he really wanted. He hoped it was something she wanted as well. 


End file.
